Into the Light
by Ungraced
Summary: The battle of Olympus left its scars on everyone and months later Thalia's still baring hers. An old friend makes an appearance in the dead of the night and makes her doubt everything. Her past hasn't finished with her, and she has a hell of a long future.


**(A/N: This is my first fanfic, so please review if you have time (I'll love you forever - even if you say it's bad). This is something I wrote an age ago and finished renently.)**

When something in the forest caught her attention, Thalia hopped down from her spot in the tree, landing silently in a low crouch. None of the huntresses stirred. An eerie glow was filtering through the trees from the near distance. Looking back once to check on the sleeping girls, Thalia warily left the clearing for the source of the light. Only one thing could shine like that in the dead of the night. It was an iris message. Though it made no sense, it had to be and unless it was a mistake, being probably the only person awake in the miles of trees surrounding them, there wasn't anyone but Thalia it could be for. Somebody wanted to speak to her. Privately.

Her first thought was that something could be wrong with Percy or Annabeth, but then what could be so wrong that it would warrant such secrecy? What could be so bad that it couldn't be shown in front of the other huntresses? Involuntarily, she latched on to a thought. A face, to be exact. The twisted and bitter face of her once best friend. She pushed it away as she always did. He was dead. Even the idea that he would try to contact her was crazy.

As she broke through the trees into a tiny light-filled clearing, her eyes locked on the face projected from the veil of shimmering colours. Her feet refused to move her forward and her very breath caught in her throat. In fact, her whole being faltered. In her mind she seemed to battle with anger, worry, delight and confusion until an unstable mixture of everything won out in her expression.

"Luke," she said in a choked whisper. Taking a small step back, she did her best to rein in her reaction. She wanted to both punch him and hug him simultaneously; to scream at him and break down in tears at the same time. None were acceptable and the first two were not even possible via iris message and so she just looked at him, not even caring which thoughts showed on her face as long as she didn't cry. It was still unclear to her whether or not this boy was the one she'd risked her life for up on Half Blood Hill or the shattered remnants of Kronos' plaything. She realised she hadn't moved nor took a breath since she'd entered the clearing.

Then he smiled, almost shyly, "I really hoped you'd come." And she almost wanted to be happy until she noticed the dark circles underneath his eyes and she decided this was probably the latter version of him. She had always hoped that Luke had achieved peace in death. Now she saw that this was not the case. Here he was; still carrying around Kronos' second-hand guilt.

"You didn't make it to Elysium?" she guessed, taking in his weathered face; she was too scared to address anything more... emotional.

The boy shook his head gravely but said, "No, I got in.. but I'm not a hero." There was only a trace of bitterness in his voice.

To that Thalia had no reply because, even in his noble death, she hadn't forgiven him. It made her feel guilty to acknowledge it, even to herself, but it was nonetheless true. She'd killed for him. Hell, she'd died for him and for Annabeth and he'd let it all slip away. He should have stayed. He should have taken care of Annabeth. He shouldn't have _poisoned_ her. Seeing him now sent months worth of suppressed undecided emotions flooding back through her at full force.

She spoke to keep from breaking down or running away because Thalia Grace did not run and she didn't cry. Still, her voice cracked a little when she said, "Why did you call me here?" The how was not important. He was Luke and that was answer enough.

He looked at her then, so cautiously. Like he knew that even his words could ruin her. "Because I'm selfish and you hate me and I can't stand it."

Hearing him speak like that, it killed her to know that she was the reason his voice caught on every syllable because, as much as he'd acted tough, even as kids Thalia had been the stronger one. When he'd been heartbroken over his mom, when he'd wanted to goddamn murder his dad; she was the one who could talk him down. Possibly the only one. In a far away part of her mind, she maybe even felt a little responsible for what happened to him because it for sure would have turned out differently if she hadn't been a pine tree for the majority of it. Almost subconsciously, she reached out a hand to help him, just as she had countless times before. All she wanted was to touch him, just once. However, all it did as it passed through the veil was send shivers throughout her and briefly distort the image. Broken from the spell, she quickly withdrew her hand; terrified that the connection may have been lost. Then his face came back into focus and he looked at her for a moment, as if gauging her reaction. She remembered it was her turn to speak.

Unthinking, she said, "I don't hate you, Luke," and as she said it, she realised it was true. Realising it was like a punch in the gut, too. He'd been so.. bad. Betrayed everyone. Everything. She missed her old friend, but she despised what he'd become. Maybe he redeemed himself in the end but she still wasn't sure it was enough.

"I'm sorry for everything."

"I know," she said, but the sound would not escape her lips.

"I missed you. More than anything," his voice was pleading now.

She nodded, trying to harden her expression. She'd missed him as well. When she'd woken from the years of sleeping as a pine tree to find that the boy she'd died for was now Kronos' slave, she'd missed him like nothing else. That made her angry too. He'd made her cry. Nobody makes her cry.

"I was going to try for rebirth," he spoke into the silence, but she didn't reply.

"I wanted to," she said abruptly, regaining some small control, "Hate you, I mean. I really tried to." For some reason she needed him to know that. He had to know that she was angry; he deserved to know how much he'd hurt her. How dare he just turn up and make her feel this way, make her doubt herself, break the barriers she'd built?

Luke nodded, avoiding the gaze of the electric blue eyes that were desperately searching his for any kind of reaction. "You have every right to. Hate me, I mean."

"But I couldn't do it, Luke," she exclaimed, accusingly. At this, his expression morphed into something of disbelief. And hope, maybe?

"This was a mistake," he said hesitantly, his voice shaking._ Don't you dare cry, _she told him in her head, _please god don't let him cry_, "Coming here was a mistake. All I've done is hurt you more."

"You make too many mistakes!" She yelled suddenly, swinging her fist through the veil. Shards of white light shattered and fell into nothing. The wind blew where the message had been and she was alone. Her anger had disappeared as quickly as it came and as quickly as his face had disappeared. "You make too many mistakes," she said, reaching out to touch the air, where nothing but memories remained. He was trying for rebirth. And she had forever to wait.

**(This was meant to be a oneshot but I was thinking of continuing with the whole rebirth plot thing, so let me know what you think.)**


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